Child abuse case Brits freed in India

Updated 16.18 Wed Jul 30 2008

Keywords: Duncan Grant and Allan John Waters, Mumbai, India, child abuse

Two Britons jailed for serious sexual assault on two young boys have been freed from an Indian prison.

Duncan Grant and Allan John Waters were released from a jail in Nagpur after two years following a successful appeal against a 2006 verdict sentencing them to six years in prison.

Defence lawyers said the Britons were innocent and had been framed by a known paedophile, who paid boys at the home to press the charges

A court in Mumbai acquitted them last Thursday, saying witness testimony against them was unreliable.

Grant and John Waters were accused of attacking boys in their care at the Anchorage Shelter for homeless boys in south Mumbai. Grant established the shelter in 1995 with money raised in Britain.

Grant had been wanted by Indian police since 2002 after young boys staying at the shelter complained of sexual abuse.

He was extradited from Tanzania to Britain in 2004 following an Interpol red alert and was arrested at Mumbai airport after he arrived from London in June 2005.

Defence lawyers said the Britons were innocent and had been framed by a known paedophile, who paid boys at the home to press the charges.

They were released from prison, along with William D'Souza, an Indian jailed in the same case, said Taraq Sayed, their lawyer.

"They plan to stay back here and wait for the Supreme Court to say if they can stay or go," Mr Sayed said.

On Tuesday, Childline Indian Foundation, an organisation helping children in distress, approached India's Supreme Court to ask for the acquittal to be overturned.

The court will decide whether to hear the case next week, a Childline spokesman said.